Outline of forestry

The following outline is provided as an overview of and guide to forestry:

Forestry – the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Forest ecosystems have come to be seen as the most important component of the biosphere, and forestry has emerged as a vital field of science, natural resource management, applied art, and technology. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement socio-environmental systems that allow forests to continue a sustainable continuation of environmental supplies and services. The challenge of forestry is to create systems that are socially accepted while sustaining the resource and any other resources that might be affected.

Contents

Focus of forestry1

Branches of forestry2

Forest management2.1

Occupations in forestry3

Silvicultural methods4

Environmental issues pertaining to forests5

Forest resource assessment6

Timber metrics6.1

Surveying techniques6.2

Timber volume determination6.3

Stand growth assessment6.4

Harvesting7

Harvesting methods7.1

Harvesting tools7.2

Timber felling tools7.2.1

Log transportation tools7.2.2

Forest products8

Primary forest products8.1

Secondary forest products8.2

History of forestry9

History of forestry, by period9.1

Ancient forestry9.1.1

Early modern forestry9.1.2

Modern forestry9.1.3

Contemporary forestry9.1.4

History of forestry institutions9.2

History of forestry law9.2.1

History of forestry agencies9.2.2

History of forestry organizations9.2.3

History of forestry education9.2.4

History of forestry as a profession9.2.5

History of forestry research9.2.6

History of forestry conferences9.2.7

History of forestry science and technology9.3

Notable people10

Lists11

Allied fields12

See also13

References14

External links15

Focus of forestry

Tree – organism, whose species, age, vitality, growth, health, and size, are considered individually or more often, as part of a whole;

Forest – defined as either a geographic area or delineated by the general composition of individuals;

Forest hydrology – embodies the effects of changes in forest land use on the movement, distribution, and quality of water in the ecosystem

Forest mensuration – incorporates quantitative measurements of the forest stand to determine stand timber volume and productivity/health, and provides a basis off which management decisions can be made

Forest pathology – research of both biotic and abiotic maladies affecting the health of the forest or tree, primarily fungal pathogens and their insect vectors

Silviculture – is the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet specific objectives

Forest management

Analog forestry – a management focus that seeks to establish a tree-dominated ecosystem that is similar in architectural structure and ecological function to the naturally occurring climax and sub-climax vegetation community

Community forestry – combination of forest conservation with rural development and poverty reduction objectives, accomplished through instating a legal framework that favors profitable and sustainable forest management

Silvicultural methods

Silviculture – practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. Silviculture also focuses on making sure that the treatment(s) of forest stands are used to preserve and to better their productivity.

Site preparation

Controlled burn – use of fire in order to eliminate weeds, brush, or slash, or to release on-site seeds of fire-dependent species

Stump harvesting – removal of tree stumps either for biomass or to free up space in the soil

Drum chopping – knocking down small trees and brush to clear the ground for planting

Planting

Broadcast seeding – scattering of seed either by hand or mechanically over a relatively large area

Aerial seeding – dispersing of seed from an aircraft, used especially in mountainous areas

Treeplanting – transplanting of juvenile seedlings into the ground at a predetermined spacing

Intermediate treatments

Weeding – removal or reduction of herbaceous or woody species around seedlings

Cleaning – removal of competing saplings of similar age in order to favor saplings of desirable growth characteristics

Liberation cutting – removal of older and established overtopping trees from desirable saplings

Thinning – removal of trees to favor the growth of select trees in order to maximize timber production

Ecological thinning – removal of trees to favor the growth of select trees in order to favor the development of wildlife habitat

Pruning – removal of the lateral branches on the trees in order to improve wood quality

Pollarding – annual removal of lateral branches or main stem in order to encourage growth of branches to provide for firewood, or fruit production

Forest fragmentation – occurring when forests are cut down in a manner that leaves relatively small, isolated patches of forest, resulting in high amounts of edges and subsequent loss in wildlife habitat and biodiversity

Forest transition – shift from a period of net forest area loss (deforestation) to a period of net forest area gain (afforestation) for a given region or country

Illegal logging – the unlawful harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber, contributing to deforestation, corruption, and destabilization of international markets

Forest resource assessment

Forest inventory – systematic collection of data and forest information for assessment or analysis. An estimate of the value and possible uses of timber is an important part of the broader information required to sustain ecosystems.

Basal area – defines the area of a given section of land that is occupied by the cross-section of tree trunks and stems at their base

Tree taper – the degree to which a tree's stem or bole decreases in diameter as a function of height above ground

Girard form class – an expression of tree taper calculated as the ratio of diameter inside the bark at 16 feet above ground to the to that outside bark at DBH, primary expression of tree form used in the United States

Surveying techniques

Chain – equivalent to 66 feet, widely used distance in surveying practices in the United States and other countries influenced by imperial Great Britain

Line plot survey – plots taken at a regular predetermined distance along the traverse path

Tools

Pacing – quick method used to survey in the field, requiring calibration of one's "paces" (pair of footsteps) to a known distance (often a chain)

Hand compass – a compact magnetic compass with a sighting device used to determine the location of plots for a given bearing

Wedge prism – optical instrument typically made of glass ground at slight angles to refract light passing through it from the smaller width side of the prism to the thicker width side of the prism, calibrated to a desired plot size (basal area factor)

Angle gauge – similar in principle to a wedge prism, although it must be held a fixed distance from the eye

GPS – global satellite navigation systems used to determine the position of oneself and plots

GIS – an information system capable of integrating, storing, analyzing, and displaying forest geographic information collected in the field

Timber volume determination

An increment borer with common drinking straws, a cost-effective manner often used to hold derived cores.

Site index – a species specific measure of site productivity and management options, reported as the height of dominant and co-dominant trees (site trees)in a stand at a base age such as 25, 50 and 100 years

Stocking – a quantitative measure of the area occupied by trees relative to an optimum or desired level of density

Stand Density Index – a measure of the stocking of a stand of trees based on the number of trees per unit area and DBH of the tree of average basal area

Volume table – a chart based on volume equations that uses correlations between certain aspects of a tree to estimate the standing volume

Harvesting

Logging – cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. The term is sometimes used in a narrow sense to mean moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. However, in common usage, the term may be used to indicate a range of forestry or silviculture activities...

Forest products

Forest product – any material derived from a forest for direct consumption or commercial use, such as lumber, paper, or forage for livestock. Wood, by far the dominant forest product, is used for many purposes, such as wood fuel (e.g. in form of firewood or charcoal) or the finished structural materials used for the construction of buildings, or as a raw material, in the form of wood pulp, that is used in the production of paper. All other non-wood products derived from forest resources, comprising a broad variety of other forest products, are collectively described as non-timber forest products.

Carl A. Schenck (1868–1955) – responsible for incorporating German scientific management techniques into American forest management, and founder of Biltmore Forest School, the first forestry school in the United States

Károly Bund (1869–1931) – an early academic and practical forester whose work in the Hungarian National Forestry Association increased treeplanting and intensified efforts to protect natural forests, indigenous tree species, and forestry workers in Austria–Hungary

Bob Marshall (1901–1939) – cofounder of The Wilderness Society, which helped pass the Wilderness Act, which created the first legal definition of wilderness and conserved some 9,100,000 acres (37,000 km2) of national forest land in the United States

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